The Other Water Tribe Girl
by Vaneria Potter
Summary: Hahn was a typical, but ambitious teenager. We all have to grow up sometime.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender. The idea for this story is mine, but not the characters or the series._

_Summary: Hahn was a typical, but ambitious teenager. We all have to grow up sometime. _

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

Regardless of how he had spoken of Yue to Sokka, Hahn truly had cared for her. He had just been trying to bait Sokka, annoy him for showing Hahn up during the briefing on their upcoming mission against the Fire Nation Navy. Besides, girls might talk about feelings as a deep and meaningful concept, but warriors didn't.

Warriors also didn't admit when they were confused or intimidated.

When he first met Sokka's little sister, he was confused, because she didn't act like he would expect the daughter of a Water Tribe chief to act. Really, the only similarities between Katara and Yue was that they were both female, both pretty, and both had a great sense of responsibility.

For all that she was a princess, Yue was still a bit naïve, and often acted like the young girl that she was. Katara acted like a woman. She acted like a mother to the Avatar, which was just wrong, as Katara was probably the only one who didn't notice the Airbender's crush on her (which was actually kind of funny), and as a sort of stand-in matriarch for the entire group.

When she disagreed with the tradition of women benders only being taught to heal, she did something about it, and Hahn had decided that maintaining a safe distance (the courtyard wall, and out of sight, in case Master Pakku had the sense to make her prove herself against someone else) was more important than asking Chief Arnook if he could take Yue on a gondola ride. Hahn had been thoroughly intimidated, and had to wonder how the North had ever convinced their girls to stay in the Healing Huts, if the Southern ones could fight like Katara did.

Further proof of that came about later. Katara had advanced more quickly than any student Pakku had ever trained. Katara could win a fight against her classmates in less than a minute, and none of the male waterbenders would spar against her if they had a choice in the matter. When the Fire Nation tried to invade, Katara had protected the Avatar against the Fire Prince himself, and nearly defeated him.

Hahn would admit (in private only) that he had acted like an idiot during the invasion. Getting into a fist-fight with Sokka - who almost certainly told his sister about it afterward, if the glares were anything to go by - was something a kid would do. Yue had certainly thought as much when she found out, and said so. Who struck a pose and announced their intentions before attacking someone? Especially when that someone was a seasoned Navy Commander?

It wasn't until much later that he admitted to himself that he was hoping for a favourable report after the siege was over.

Hahn had been hoping that taking down the enemy leader and people talking about how heroic he had been would make up for fighting with Sokka, regardless of who had thrown the first punch, even a little.

It hadn't. Yue had become the Moon-Spirit by then, and Hahn knew better than that, even if he didn't know that La would have done something deeply unpleasant if he'd tried. Katara, who had been temporarily enlisted by Yagoda, along with everyone who knew even the slightest bit about healing, had outright called him an idiot and gone into great description on the multiple ways he could have been killed in even that short time.

Hahn had demanded to know, through chattering teeth, how she would know, and been treated to a humbling lecture on how the Southern Water Tribe had been subjected to raids for the past sixty years, one of which had taken her mother, and how the hubris of ignoring Sokka's advice and therefore risking himself and those he led in such a fashion was not a good sign in a potential future leader.

When Hahn eventually had the chance to sit and think it over, once his ears stopped ringing, he had admitted that she was right, and that if he was going to be a leader, it was time for him to start acting like one.

When Master Pakku had asked for volunteers to go South to help their Sister Tribe, Hahn had bitten his tongue about the kind of reception they would get, given that they had been ignoring such requests for decades, suggested that they bring extra supplies as a gesture of goodwill and in case the South was having a hard season, and signed himself up.

* * *

Katara didn't like Hahn, but she hadn't really had a chance to get to know him. All she really knew were from Sokka's rants, and since Hahn was a lot like Sokka before meeting the Kyoshi Warriors, just a bit more career-minded, she was going to take that with a pinch of salt. The bruises on both boys testified to the fist-fight, but Sokka hadn't said much beyond complaining about being pulled off each other.

Even so, Arnook wouldn't have betrothed Yue to a 'self-absorbed weasel without a soul' if he didn't think that there was something worthwhile in him, and like Sokka, Hahn was only seventeen. Gran-Gran said that boys don't grow up until they reach their twenties, unless something happens to give them a serious wake-up call.

A comment from Yagoda about 'headstrong boys' and 'younger sons always trying to prove themselves' had roused her curiosity. Gran-Gran always said that Katara needed to stop letting her curiosity get her into trouble.

Hahn was the youngest son of a merchant. In the Hierarchy of the Northern Water Tribe, which Katara was still trying to make sense of (and failing – common sense just wasn't common) this meant that Hahn was pretty much on his own when it came to forging his future, rather than being able to rely on inheriting something, as his older brother could. That certainly explained why he was so focussed on pleasing his superiors.

Perhaps Hahn improved upon knowing, like Master Pakku did. Maybe he had taken her yelling at him to heart, since he was joining Master Pakku's expedition to the South Pole, and had even shown signs of being considerate by suggesting that they bring extra supplies. Life at the poles was harsh, and it would be bad for the Tribe if they had to go short or make the guests go short because there wasn't enough to go around.

It was too bad she wouldn't have the chance to find out if Hahn was getting better, as she, Aang and Sokka were leaving for the Earth Kingdom tomorrow. Aang needed to master all of the elements before Sozin's Comet arrived, and for that, they needed to find an Earthbender.

Katara knew that she still had a lot to learn, but she did know enough to bring Aang up to at least proficiency in Waterbending, even if she had no idea how they were going to go about finding a Firebending teacher.

Well, one thing at a time. First, get Aang to master the elements and defeat the Fire Lord.

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_A/N: Hey, if Katara could fall for Jet, she could try to think the best of Hahn, since she only knows that her brother thinks Hahn is a jerk and his competition for Princess Yue. Just a one-shot for now, but might turn into a longer, probably post-series, story if I get around to it._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: Not mine, making no money, blah blah blah._

_Summary: See previous chapters_

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

Hahn wasn't sure whether to be upset or thrilled when the Avatar parted ways with the ship.

On the one hand, Katara giving him a talking-to had made him want to prove that he wasn't an idiot who couldn't be trusted to lead, and he wanted to show her so. He wasn't trying to impress her like he had tried to impress Princess Yue; Hahn just wanted to prove himself. On the other hand, trying to prove himself to Katara only worked if he could actually get near her, and even if Hahn knew that it was just jealousy, having the Avatar glare at him (andSokka finger his boomerang) every time he got within five feet of the girl was not fun.

Even if he hadn't seen the twelve-year-old turn into a giant blue koi of ocean water, Aang could still blow him off the ship, so until he had a bit more backup to keep the Avatar busy while he spoke to Katara, Hahn kept his distance.

* * *

Upon reaching the South Pole, Hahn was caught between shocked and horrified. Katara had not been exaggerating, no matter how much Hahn had wished otherwise. There could not have been more than ten houses, all of them simple igloos, and Hahn had seen more people in one neighbourhood in the North Pole than there seemed to be in the entire Southern Water Tribe.

The only protection seemed to be a single ice wall, with the lack of height and slightly crude finish that bespoke the absence of Waterbending help, and six or seven children, the oldest of whom was barely five. If this was all that Sokka had to work with, and very little training of his own, no wonder he had been so inexperienced in actual weapon combat, and Hahn felt slightly guilty for all the times he had taunted the other boy over it.

The Southern Water Tribe came out to meet them, headed by a single elder, whose hair loops and glare suggested that she was Katara's grandmother and Pakku's lost love, Kanna. If she was anything like her grand-daughter, it was probably a bad thing that she didn't look happy to see them.

A bad thing, but also very amusing.

Pakku had stated that they were here to help, though he wondered why the men were not present for that duty, and that he hoped Kanna would have a chance to let him talk to her. Kanna, suddenly not the only one displeased to see them, greeted the Waterbending Master with a slap to the face that knocked him into the snow, demanded to know why they had only come to help _thirty years_ after the Southern Tribe had given up asking, and that he could start on the wall, because she would rather get the facts from Yagoda's second-in-command, who had accompanied them.

Hahn, trying very hard not to laugh, elbowed several of the other Northern Tribesman into helping him unload the supplies they had brought with them. If the Matriarch was like that with a Waterbending Master, it might be a good idea to get on the Southern Tribe's good side before she became angry at them.

* * *

Two days after arriving, Hahn found himself cornered by Kanna, who was wearing an expression apparently universal to mothers everywhere: the one that said she knew you were up to something, and he had better make it easier on himself by confessing now. Luckily, before he could panic and say something foolish in regards to her grandchildren, Kanna spoke. "Pakku tells me that you were the one to suggest bringing extra supplies so as not to burden us."

So Pakku had finally managed to get Kanna to at least talk to him. Hahn wondered if the subject of Katara's Waterbending had come up yet. But Kanna was waiting for an answer, and he found himself almost babbling to explain. "I kind of got an earful from Katara when I asked what she would know about Fire Nation raids. She told me about how many times you had been raided, and that you had few hunters. I thought that if we were coming un-announced, we could at least support ourselves if you were having a difficult season.

Kanna looked almost approving, and Hahn firmly reminded himself that warriors did not go weak-kneed with relief, especially when their opponent was a seventy-year-old woman. "Hm, you're definitely an improvement from when I was in the north."

Hahn laughed nervously, speaking before he could stop himself. "Not really. I was an arrogant hot-head, and it took nearly getting killed and Katara yelling at me before I got my act together. Getting into a fight with Sokka didn't do me or him any favours, either."

Kanna's stern face lost some of that approval, but she didn't look angry, either. "Well, at least you admit to being wrong. You're learning."

Hahn relaxed slightly, feeling like he had dodged an ice-dagger, though he lost the relaxation when she continued. "Now, tell me how my grandchildren were when you left."

What was he supposed to say? Ah… that Sokka was an idiot but a brave and competent warrior? That Hahn was impressed by the other boy, but would swallow live coals before he admitted it? That he was more impressed with Katara than he had been with any other girl, including his ex-fiancée, and that she was scary when you got her mad? And that she had clearly inherited that trait from her Grandmother?

_Slush._

* * *

Katara refused to admit that she wouldn't mind having Hahn around right now. The Northern Water Tribe boy would have agreed with Fong that it would be good for Aang to master the Avatar State (if only to avoid another Possessed-By-The-Ocean-Spirit fiasco), and Aang would have promptly refused, in a textbook case of reverse psychology.

Whether he liked her or not, Hahn also would have been nice enough to not say that he would prefer kissing her to dying! Maybe it was a stupid idea, and maybe most of the boys in the Northern Water Tribe thought her 'unwomanly', but she wasn't that undesirable, was she? It was no use asking Sokka's opinion; he was her brother, and would be happy to have anyone male as far away from her as possible.

It would have been good to have another warrior on their side in Omashu, even if he and Sokka would almost certainly have wound up in a horrible fight over the 'Pentapox Plague' idea, no matter how effective it was. Hahn probably wouldn't have acted like she was an idiot for saying that barely-old-enough-to-walk Tom-Tom was hardly a threat, either.

On the other hand, maybe it was a good thing that he wasn't with them. Hahn shared Sokka's tendency to think after he spoke, and while the Swampbenders were generally good-natured, Hahn probably would have said something regrettable about either them or their style of bending, as he had been around the more refined styles his entire life, while Sokka hadn't really seen much more than Katara's trial-and-error attempts before her formal training.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender. Can't we just skip stating the obvious?_

_Summary: See previous chapters._

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

Life in the Southern Water Tribe quickly fell into a routine.

The warriors switched off between hunting and training, and slowly integrating themselves into the Southern Tribe. Those who had seen Katara in action had the most luck as far as being accepted, being a bit more open-minded about the fact that girls could be even scarier in a fight than boys, given the motivation, and didn't appreciate being treated as weak or helpless.

Sangok had been the last person to try that with Katara, and had been soundly defeated in two moves the next time she sparred against him. There was no proof, but Hahn didn't think that the ice-spike perilously close to his groin when she froze him half-in, half-out of an ice-wave in a very uncomfortable and embarrassing position had been quite the accident of water formation that Katara had claimed.

Then again, he wasn't arguing, either, and thought that the other bender probably deserved it. Hahn might have been arrogant, and probably could have treated Yue with more respect than he had, but even he knew that telling a girl that he would be willing to marry her if she asked nicely, as she wasn't likely to get any other offers and would need someone to protect her when Sokka eventually married, was just asking for trouble. Having met Kanna, who had been the one to raise Sokka and Katara; it should have been doubly obvious to expect pain for such a remark.

The few women who had come down from the North Pole were clearly enjoying their new freedom, and Hahn had overheard at least one plot to see if they could figure out how to follow Katara's example in being trained in more than healing. Given the way Master Pakku was bending over backwards to try and impress Kanna, Hahn thought that it had a fair shot of working. They had been accepted quicker, bonding over shared activities and being coaxed through cultural differences.

In between, the Previously-Northern-Tribespeople adjusted to their very different surroundings, and tried not to be openly amused as they watched Master Pakku try to hold even a short, non-business conversation with Kanna, who still wasn't giving him the time of day. No one felt like following the Avatar's example and being frozen into an iceberg, however, so they kept it down to muffled giggles.

Hahn wouldn't have expected to like living here, away from the relative comfort and luxuries of the North Pole, but the Southern Water Tribe was beginning to feel a lot like home.

He wondered how Katara was faring. Had she and her companions managed to find an Earthbending teacher for the Avatar? Were she and the potential Earthbending Sifu having more luck than Master Pakku in getting him to actually focus on his lessons? Had the Avatar tried the "I-don't-know-how-to-hold-a-net/Waterbending-stance-can-you-guide-my-arms?" trick now that his crush was now also his Waterbending Sifu?

Maybe Hahn was giving him either too much credit, or not enough. Aang still hadn't caught on to the fact that Katara clearly hadn't noticed his painfully obvious crush, or the fact that Katara was nearly three years older than him, and both had very different personalities, though how he managed to miss that was anyone's guess.

On the other hand, Aang was the Avatar, so he was probably smart enough to know that that kind of move was just sad and desperate, and girls had the right to hit you with a water-whip if they caught on.

Actually, Hahn would probably pay money to see that.

Were they still being hunted by the Fire Nation? The Fire Nation was probably lacking in resources after the aftermath of making the Ocean Spirit angry, and the Earth Kingdom was still holding strong against them, especially aided by the Southern Water Tribe warriors, but the Avatar would be considered enough of a threat to justify use of those limited resources.

He hoped that Katara was well, wherever they were.

* * *

She hadn't thought she would ever miss Hahn, but right now she would welcome him. She loved Sokka, and she admitted that sometimes she relied too much on her bending. A second non-bender who knew how to fight would be very useful now, with Ozai's Angels, as Sokka had called trio of Fire Nation girls, chasing them down.

That wasn't the only reason, either. Katara hated the chauvinistic attitude of the Northern Water Tribe, but right now she would welcome anyone, up to and including Hahn, just to have someone who wouldn't snap at her for being uptight.

And she wasn't uptight! Trying to keep a budget so that they could splurge every so often, and because they didn't know when they would next be able to get more money, was only common sense. Just because she thought that patience and positive reinforcement were better teaching methods than shouting and beating people up, or that being on the road was no excuse for ignoring basic hygiene, was no reason for Toph to be so blatantly rude and call her a stick! Yes, Aang needed an Earthbending teacher, but something had to give.

Hahn had grown up knowing that he would need to forge his own path, with little support. While he was capable, and very proud, he also knew that sometimes he did need help. Hitting the freezing waters of the North Pole with enough height and momentum to break a few things, and the Healers forced to spread their resources thin over far too many casualties, meant that Hahn had to take the longer road to recovery, and had needed assistance for a week or two. He snapped when someone implied that he was incapable of something, but had thanked her when she had visited for a healing session.

With her parent's treating her as helpless, Katara could understand Toph's desire to do things for herself, but the girl needed to make up her mind! Either she was invalid, in which case not assisting the rest of the group in setting up camp was acceptable, and they would find other means of contribution, or she was capable, and could join in so they could work as a group.

Neither option involved Toph providing for herself but not sharing, and then sitting back as the others worked! When any people travelled together, everyone was expected to contribute to the entire group's welfare. Asking the other girl to help out with the chores was a way to include her in the community (even if it only consisted of four people and two animals), and to quietly prove that they didn't think she was helpless, that Katara believed that she could do things for herself! How did that make her selfish? Toph was educated; surely she knew that the Water Tribes valued community and family.

Worse, every time Katara tried to reach out, or make a peace offering, Toph refused or dismissed it. An outsider being accepted as part of a tribe or family was an Honour! Katara seriously hoped that there were a just few gaps in Toph's learning, and she simply didn't realize how offensive and insulting her behaviour was.

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_A/N: Chapter three is done! I hope I pulled off a good interpretation of the early Katara/Toph animosity. I didn't get why gentle, kind-to-complete-strangers Katara would be so antagonistic, even if Toph was rude to her first. _

_I'm thinking of doing a short Toph-related fic, too, though that one will probably be just a two- or three-shot, at most._

_Thanks, Nat._


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender, and make no money off this fanfic._  
_Summary: See Previous Chapters._

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR**

The universe was out to get him, and if laughter and irony were the food of the spirits, then they were following Hahn around like a mobile All-You-Can-Eat Buffet.

Now that they had a few extra ships, the Southern Water Tribe, who had heard nothing from their husbands, brothers and fathers in several years, felt that the arrival of several Northern Tribespeople was significant enough to warrant sending word to the Southern Fleet, and if personal correspondence could be sent at the same time, all the better.

Hahn didn't know why he and Sangok had been stuck with this duty, but he wished he did. At least then he would have had a basis to argue why someone else could do it, and have an idea of who he had offended, so he could make a note to never do it again.

The Southern Water Tribe women and children had been less than happy to see them, and made a point of how long they had ignored the requests for aid. Thankfully, there was little they could do other than accept the admittedly much-needed help with a formality that made an iceberg look warm and inviting, and make it subtly clear that the Northerners were, by and large, still in their bad books.

The Southern Water Tribe warriors that Hahn and Sangok had been sent to find were even less appreciative at first contact, and unlike their families, carried very effective weapons and were in a position to do something about that dislike.

As the Southern Water Fleet all knew each other, Hahn and Sangok were instantly recognized as not part of the camp, and possibly spies who had been dressed up in Water Tribe clothing. The two Northern Tribe boys, having little experience outside the poles, and less in hunting and tracking, had been attacked from behind, knocked out, and awoken to find themselves tied up and being glared at by several angry Southern Water Tribesmen.

Hahn had tried to think of a way to talk their way free, and how to prove that they weren't spies, when Sangok just had to open his mouth, muttering that Sokka hadn't been this good and he just figured out where Katara got 'it' from. If Hahn hadn't been tied up, he would have punched the other boy for provoking their captors, but he didn't get the chance, as they were picked up and carried off to a large tent, where they were tossed at the feet of a tall, well-built man with a stern expression. "Chief Hakoda, we found these two lurking about. The smaller one mentioned Sokka and Katara."

Hakoda, who Hahn belatedly remembered was Kanna's son-in-law and Katara's father, looked even sterner. Fathers tended to be a bit overprotective of their daughters, in Hahn's limited experience, and he found himself very worried for his continued good health. "I see. Would either of you care to explain yourselves."

Not trusting Sangok to avoid saying something stupid again, Hahn started talking, a little quicker than he had planned. "We're from the Northern Water Tribe. We recently encountered your children, and were part of an expedition down to the Southern Tribe. We were sent to bring you news from your families, and I'll give you the letters if you'll please untie me long enough to reach them."

The Chief, who Hahn found a lot scarier that Chief Arnook, and not just because of his build, didn't move. "And how do you know my children?"

Sangok scowled. "It is not fair that a girl trained for a few months can do that sort of thing to boys who've been in training for years."

Again, Hahn had to resist the urge to do something unpleasant to his companion. "Shut up, Sangok. It's hardly Katara's fault that she can wipe the floe with you." He turned the conversation back to Chief Hakoda, "We met Sokka and Katara when the accompanied the Avatar to the North Pole so he could learn Waterbending. After the Fire Nation attack was rebuffed with the Avatar's help, Master Pakku led several of us down to render what aid we could to our Sister Tribe."

Hakoda looked pleased when Katara's Waterbending prowess was mentioned, but scowled again when Hahn said that they had gone down to offer aid. "And can you tell me why you come to assist us now, more than sixty years after we first requested aid, and over thirty years after we gave up asking and being ignored?"

Hahn winced. It sounded really bad when you said it like that. Katara clearly took after her mother in looks, but he wondered how much of her personality had come from her father, as that tone had been scarily reminiscent of Katara when she had ripped him a new one in the Healing Huts. "I don't know, sir."

A small, white lie, but Hahn wasn't about to say that it was probably prompted by Master Pakku wanting to get back together with his ex-betrothed. For once, Sangok had the sense to keep his mouth shut on the topic.

Chief Hakoda relaxed a fraction, but Hahn wasn't going to try and convince himself that the quirk of his lips was anything like an actual non-hostile grin. "Very well. Bato, let him go and accompany him to retrieve these letters."

Sangok's silence obviously wasn't going to last. "Don't forget the letter you wrote to Katara."

Hahn wondered if breaking Sangok's jaw to shut him up would really be overkill. Because right now, it was incredibly tempting.

* * *

Katara had to keep reminding herself that Appa was Aang's oldest friend, so they should allow him some leeway in releasing his stress through anger. Even so, there was no need to take it out on the rest of them, especially Toph, who had been forced to choose between defending Appa against an enemy she could barely see, and stopping the Library from sinking into the sands, taking the rest of them with it.

The worst part of the desert was the absence of water. Not only did that make for a very bad situation (Worse when Sokka decided to try cactus juice and became a nonsense-spouting hindrance until it wore off), but it left her very uncomfortable, like a part of her was missing. On the semi-bright side, she and Toph temporarily had something in common.

Ba Sing Se was interesting at first, if you didn't count the surprise at Serpent's Pass and the fiasco with the giant drill. Sharing a girls day out with Toph had been fun, and it was nice to have someone else do all of the cooking and cleaning for once.

Then they uncovered the deception beneath it all. Their hope of aid from the Earth King was futile, as he was no more than a puppet, and the entire city was under tight control, with any potential troublemakers vanishing and being mind-wiped.

Not for the first time, and probably not the last, Katara would have liked Hahn to be there. Without Gran-Gran and the other village women, she felt the imbalance of their little family all the more keenly.

Sokka unconsciously looked to her as Matriarch, in Gran-Gran's absence, but still thought of her as his little sister. Toph was her friend, but instinctively defiant toward any sort of authority. Aang constantly wavered between hyperactive child and wise monk, but could never settle on one or the other. She was sister and friend to all of them, yet that very love only got in the way during those instances that she was forced to step in as parent as well.

They were all near the same age, which made it even harder to exert authority when something needed to be done but none of them wanted to, and Katara was the sole 'parent', with no one to back her up or be her counterpart, especially when the others reacted to her gentle commands by telling her to 'lighten up'.

Hahn knew how to carry the weight of authority, but also how to share the burden that Katara sometimes felt would crush her. It would also be nice to have someone acknowledge that she was, in fact, a girl, rather than an oddly-shaped 'one of the guys'.

Honestly, the only good thing to have happened so far was that they eventually found Appa again.

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_A/N:Right, next chapter is up, and I hope you like it. I'm debating whether to send Hahn back to the South Pole, or have some brief interaction with the GAang, maybe while Sokka visits Chameleon Bay or while Aang is unconcious. Feel free to voice your opinions._

_For those who were unaware, a 'floe' is a bit like a mini-iceberg, or a large, free-floating piece of ice, often used as a home or resting place for artic marine mammals like seals._

_Thanks, Nat_


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender, and never will. Nor do I own or profit from the associated characters._

_Summary: See previous chapters._

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**CHAPTER FIVE**

Hahn didn't quite groan when Sokka showed up, but it was a close thing.

Luckily, the other boy was too intent on finding his father, seeing him for the first time in years, to notice Hahn, which meant that Hahn could duck out of sight. He had Sangok to hunt down (the other boy could show good sense on occasion, as proven when he chose to hide from Hahn after the Letters Incident) and beat up.

The past couple of days had been interesting. Much like the women and children of the Southern Water Tribe, the men held more than a little resentment toward their Northern cousins. Bearing letters and news from home has softened the animosity a little, and having gone through it once make attempted integration easier a second time around. Helping with the 'Stink and Sink' bombs (So that was where Sokka inherited his terrible sense of humour and occasional genius) probably went a long way to gaining acceptance, too.

He wondered how Katara was doing, but knew better than to try asking Sokka. As Katara's older brother, he would either refuse to answer, get suspicious and start asking questions, or result in a fist fight. Sokka might not be much in a formal fight, but was a skilled brawler, as Hahn had discovered the hard way.

Despite all attempts, their first meeting nearly came to blows anyway. Hahn knew how to use sword and spear, but had little to no idea about using a boomerang, and was learning from some of the Southern Warriors when Sokka took advantage of a momentary lull to approach him. "What's with your sudden interest in my sister?"

Hahn really wished that Sokka could have brought that up away from Hakoda and the other warriors, who were suddenly paying very close attention to his response, which came out as a spluttered "What?"

Sokka glared at him. "You know, the four letters you sent? They were intercepted by Long Feng, so Katara never got them, but I want to know why you're so interested. Is this about trying to hook up with another chief's daughter?"

So that was why Katara had never replied. Hahn had thought it was just lack of a messenger bird. Still, he couldn't help taking offense. "Yue was an arranged marriage, and you know it. Katara was the first girl to call me an arrogant jerk to my face, and she's smart and compassionate and brave! I didn't even know she was the chief's daughter until I had the Southern Water Tribe Matriarch interrogating me about the both of you!"

There were more than a few snickers from the spectators, and Hakoda was still looking a bit too interested, but Sokka didn't let up. "So what was in them? Were they some kind of love letter? Fishing for information about what we were doing?"

Hahn spluttered again. "What? No! I was just passing along news of what was going on back in the South Pole, and hoping that she was well. Anyway, shouldn't you be worrying about the Avatar trying something, rather than me?"

The attempt to divert attention failed. Sokka waved a dismissive hand. "Nah, Aang's still a kid, and I don't think he knows that anything beyond kissing even exists. Katara thinks of him as a little brother, anyway."

So, did that mean that Katara thought of him, Hahn, as a man? Or at least a mature teenager? Hahn could hope. Luckily, they were interrupted by the lookout running up with the news of a Fire Nation ship nearby. Hahn and the others ran to prepare for battle, and they were just about to cast off when Appa swooped in to land, a very worried-looking Aang on his back. For once, Sokka and Hahn were in agreement. "This can't be good."

As Sokka and the Avatar flew away, Hakoda looked after the son he had been reunited with so briefly. Not far from the chief, Hahn followed the bison's flight path, hoping that, whatever the emergency was, Katara was all right.

* * *

Katara had delivered her message, and now took out the letters from Hahn that Sokka had attempted to hide from her when they found it in Long Feng's office and that she had quietly recovered when he and Aang left on Appa. What had he and the other Northern Tribe travellers been doing? How had they responded to the glaring contrast between the two Poles?

A tiny part of her wondered if Hahn had thought of her, as she had occasionally thought about him, but she quickly dismissed that. He had been engaged to a princess, who actually knew how to act like one. Why would he be interested in a girl who had been raised as a peasant, for all that her father was the chief?

A new tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon, had opened up, and Katara had been meaning to go for days, but had never had the chance. A chance to sit down and relax while she read the letter, without being stuck alone in their house and without someone trying to stick their nose in it, sounded heavenly.

It was a beautiful shop, and the doorman was very polite when he showed her to a table, gave her a menu, and said that a server would be with her shortly. Deciding that a soothing Green Tea would be just the thing, Katara turned back to her letter, smiling as she read of what was happening in the South (apparently, Pakku and Gran-Gran were on speaking and friendly terms again, but not until after Gran-Gran made him work for it). She couldn't help but giggle when Hahn wrote of how he and Sangok had encountered her father and the other warriors, and nearly decided that she loved him when he included several paragraphs on how they all were, especially her father. Hahn had added a note, saying that while Hakoda would probably write her a letter as soon as things settled down long enough for the Southern Water Tribe warriors to sit down and write one, he thought she would want to know how everyone was now.

It was little things like this that made Katara see why Yue had been reluctant to simply break her engagement, arranged or not, no matter how much the princess had loved Sokka. Hahn was a good man, if somewhat arrogant and career-minded, too good to sneak around on because of an uncertain love with a debatable future. Yue had liked and respected Hahn, and it was times like now, when he did something kind and thoughtful, that Katara could see why.

She had just put the letter down when she heard an all-too-familiar voice, and her head snapped toward the sound. Zuko's hair was longer, he was wearing Earth Kingdom green, and Katara had never expected to see the prince in an apron, but the voice and the scar were unmistakable. Equally unmistakable was the voice and figure of his uncle, brewing behind the counter.

Causing a scene in a tea shop would do no one any good, but Katara couldn't just sit there. Scooping up Momo, she all but ran outside, desperately trying to think of what to do.

From her brief glimpse of the two Firebenders, they seemed happy, at peace with the world, in a way that they never had those times she had encountered them before. With nothing to do, Katara had been reading the History of the Earth Kingdom, and the fact that the Dragon of the West was happily running a tea shop in the very city he once spent six hundred days besieging said a lot.

On the other hand, how could she take the risk? Ba Sing Se was preparing to join the war, and the Fire Lord's son, not to mention one of the Fire Nation's most formidable generals, was happily running around the Upper Ring, not far from where the Council of Five were located.

But who could Katara tell? Even to her, the whole thing sounded almost unbelievable, and she wasn't blind to the fact that she was only in War Meetings to run errands and because she was a friend of The Avatar.

The Earth Kingdom wasn't nearly as bad as the North Pole, but they did share the opinion that women had no place getting involved in war. She didn't take it too personally, though. The Earth Kingdom generals had trained and led for years, and fought in the Siege of Ba Sing Se. Katara had fought her share of battles against skilled opponents, and knew the devastation of war from the countless raids on her tribe, but she didn't have their experience, and she doubted that they would listen to even the Kyoshi Warriors, until they had proven themselves.

Wait, the Kyoshi Warriors! Suki! A group of Kyoshi warriors had arrived at the palace, and they knew her. Not only that, but Prince Zuko had attacked their Island at one point, so they would know the possible threat he posed, and take it seriously! Also, they wouldn't execute them on sight, like the Earth Kingdom generals probably would. Zuko did value his honour, almost too much at times, so if Katara could just get Suki to hold him down while they made the two Fire Nation Royals swear to leave Ba Sing Se, or at least swear not to harm or disrupt the War Effort, everything could be settled peacefully, without anyone getting hurt.

Katara was very tired of watching people get hurt.

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_A/N: Ok, next chapter is up, and I'm really sorry it took so long._

_Yeah, the Hahn vs. Sokka confrontation that we all wanted to see_

_A lot of people get pissy at Katara for running straight to Azula-as-a-Kyoshi-Warrior when she sees Zuko and Iroh, so I wanted to explain her reasoning. Suki knows Katara, and will listen to her, rather than possibly sending her away like a silly teenage girl, and Katara has a good idea of where Suki is, as opposed to the five generals who could be pretty much anywhere._

_You need more than two people to run a tea shop. Even in a small, modern-day takeaway coffee shop, there will be at least three people working. This goes double for when a new shop has just opened, and is anticipating a rush. Example is the multitude of short-term jobs that open up for casuals around Christmas time, when shops anticipate extra customers doing their holiday shopping. If Iroh had just opened up, especially if he thought the Jasmine Dragon might be a hit, he would have hired a few other staff for at least the opening week. Given that the Jasmine Dragon looked crowded, it becomes even more unlikely that he and Zuko were the only ones working._

_Top class places have someone to greet you at the door and see you to a table, and the Upper Ring seems to be comprised almost totally of the rich and snobbish. If Iroh managed to turn a dingy Lower Ring shop into a success, I don't see him taking half-measures when he finally achieves his dream of owning his own tea shop in the Upper Ring, and one person around for the daytime hours when Iroh and Zuko don't dare risk bending anyway is a worthwhile risk. _

_I also don't see Katara just going into a tea shop at random, so I made her having heard about it and looking for a place to relax and read a letter. (I do most of my writing in coffee shops. It's nice to have the sound of people around you, but know that they aren't going to be hanging over your shoulder the entire time) A different server greets her, and she has the chance to sit down and read before she sees Zuko. _

_I'm going away for Christmas on the 22nd__, and won't be back until after New Year, so I'm posting several updates now to tide you all over. Reviews make wonderful Christmas Presents!_

_Thanks, Nat._


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender. There, I said it._

_Summary: See previous chapters_

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX**

'All right' was a relative term when applied to Katara, as it turned out.

She was physically unhurt, with the exception of a few bruises and a scrape or two, but emotionally, Katara was an absolute wreck.

Hahn had managed to coax some of the story out of her while helping to patch up Sangok, who had still been dressed in Fire Nation armor when he went to hail Appa, and been greeted by a Waterbending attack that could have killed him if he hadn't been a bender himself, and therefore able to counter it.

Either Katara had become a lot more powerful in the months since he last saw her, or she was protecting her family, which made Hahn wonder – not for the first time – why the Northern Water Tribe had banned women from fighting. If the women of the Southern Tribe were any indication, a female Waterbender protecting her family was a lethal force to be reckoned with.

Hahn had the feeling that she had not told anyone these details before, and wouldn't speak of it until she gave him permission. Apparently, Katara had been imprisoned with Prince Zuko, with whom she had a blazing row, followed by a small heart-to-heart, during which she offered to try to heal him. Aang had showed up to rescue her before she had the chance, and the Fire Prince had betrayed Katara's trust and compassion to join his sister, turning the tide against Katara and Aang, and giving the Princess a chance to shoot the Avatar with lightning. They would have died, if not for – in an extreme twist of irony – the Dragon of the West, who had held their attackers off long enough to get out of there.

If Hahn ever met the Fire Prince, there was going to be a reckoning.

Remaining silent while Katara told the story, Hahn led her out of the infirmary and into an empty cabin, where he held her as she cried, finally allowing all the pent-up grief, stress and guilt to pour out of her. Crying girls terrified Hahn more than anything this side of the Spirit world, but this was Katara, who he cared about and would do nearly anything for.

The tears disappeared, replaced with the countenance of a mother who had to be strong for her family, when the Earth King came looking for her to ask a question about Hahn didn't know what, after which she went into the cabin where the still-unconscious Avatar lay, and refused to move. Remembering when his mother had done the same when Hahn or his siblings had fallen ill, Hahn didn't try to dissuade her.

* * *

The next time he saw her was three days later, when Sokka had entered the gallery with a struggling Katara over one shoulder, and dropped her into a seat at a table near the food line. Maybe being related had something to do with Sokka's ability to ignore the Death Glare aimed at him while he told his sister to eat and get some rest while he and Toph took a turn at watching Aang. Deciding that the other youth was either braver or stupider than Hahn had originally thought, he walked over to a fuming Katara and sat down, handing her a plate of food. "How is he doing?"

Katara's eyes flashed, and Hahn momentarily braced himself to duck a Water whip, before she sighed, the fury leaving her body to be replaced by exhaustion and worry. Her voice was quiet and she looked down at the table-top. "There's no change. It's been nearly a week, and he still hasn't woken up. What if the Spirit Water wasn't enough, and Aang stays like this, or doesn't recover at all?"

There was really no reply to that, so Hahn just sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around Katara's shoulders. It was just for her comfort against the hard-backed metal chairs. Really.

He had to fight not to stiffen when he glanced at the doorway and saw Hakoda watching them. Did Katara's relatives have some kind of instinctive knack that resulted in always showing up at the most inconvenient times? Fortunately, Hakoda seemed happy that Katara was accepting comfort from somebody, and didn't seem inclined to tear Hahn apart.

Katara leaned into Hahn, accepting the gesture. The rest of the people on board had tried to offer comfort, but it hadn't really worked. Toph had never been one for comforting, and while she and Sokka had tried, Katara always seemed to find herself reassuring and comforting _them_, rather than the other way around. Her father had tried, but Katara hadn't seen him for nearly three years. He hadn't been there when she needed a father, and while she knew it was unfair of her, she found it hard to rely on him now.

She knew Hahn, but he didn't expect or need her to be a maternal figure. He didn't push her to try to open up or accept help, but he let her know that he would be there if she needed him. Katara could rely on Hahn, when she needed someone to support her, and that was an unusual, but very nice, feeling.

Was this what marriage felt like? Girls in the Southern Tribe didn't have arranged marriages, or marry until they were ready, but Water Tribe women were nurturing and loving, with a strong sense of Family, so marrying and raising a family was the natural progression. Katara would have been the exception by necessity, what with no boys except her brother left, but that didn't mean that she didn't want someone to love and support her as an equal, rather than as a sister or a mother.

* * *

Even the worst situations gave the occasional blessing.

Aang was awake, so Katara was a lot less stressed. However, he was still sulking over the fact that the rest of the world thought he was dead, and the Water Tribe warriors, particularly Sokka, wanted to use that belief, keeping him a secret. The Avatar refusing to go out unless he could 'wear his arrow proudly' meant that he wasn't hanging all over Katara when they docked to get supplies. With any luck, Hahn could coax Katara away from the group for a few minutes, to see if she was willing to open up more about what was troubling her in private than she was in company.

Make that a lot of luck, as the rest of Katara's friends alternated between extreme childishness and joining Sangok and the warriors in doing everything possible to get in Hahn's way. Hahn knew that Sangok, Sokka and the warriors were doing it deliberately. The little Earthbender and the other strays they managed to pick up, he wasn't sure about.

Katara finally got rid of them by handing everyone a few coins and telling them to get one treat each. "I wanted to thank you for how supportive you've been through all this, Hahn. I know it can't have been easy for you."

Was that a reference to his previous self-absorbed behaviour from the North Pole? What did she mean; it couldn't have been easy for Hahn? One day soon, he was going to have to sit Katara down and have a long talk about how it was acceptable for her to think of herself first once in a while. "I'm fine, Katara. You needed someone to lean on, and it's the least I could do."

Katara smiled briefly. "I appreciate that." She hesitated a moment. "Do you think that I'm being unfair to Dad? I heard some of the others talking, and they think that I'm being a cat-shrew."

As the father of his crush, and a legendary warrior in his own right, Blue Wolf Hakoda scared Hahn, and he avoided him when it was possible to do so without seeming suspicious, even if Sangok did make fun of him because of it. He wasn't about to actually say that, however. Instead, he shrugged. "I don't know enough about the situation. Are you upset with your father?"

Katara sighed. "I don't know. It's just, I'm not the little girl he remembers, and I can't seem to forget that he left when we needed him the most. I know the Fire Nation needed to be stopped, and we had Gran-Gran and she loved us, but I needed him too, and he doesn't even know who I am anymore."

Hahn had never had that problem, largely because his parents had been more focussed on the family heir, the sister who needed a dowry to make a good match, and the second son who was a clerk to the High Council, rather than the youngest child who had his heart set on the military. "Well, maybe you just need to tell him that, and give him a chance to get to know you again, this time as the woman you've become. I know he missed you."

Katara lit up, proving that Hahn had been correct in his assumption that she had been feeling insecure about that. "Really? How do you know?"

Hahn winced, still a little embarrassed about the fact. "Sangok opened his big mouth and told him about me writing to you and how we were friends. Your father questioned me for hours about how close we were and what I knew of your life in the past few years."

At least an hour of which had bordered on 'what are your intentions with my daughter', and the rest going into minute detail, an experience Hahn would rather forget. Still, Katara looked a lot happier, so it was worth it.

Leaning up, she kissed him on the cheek, a bit impulsively, and took his hand as they wandered through the market. Doing his best not to blush, Hahn tried to think of a good way to return the gesture wihout getting a boomerang to the skull. Spotting a jewellery stall, Hahn exchanged a few coins for an elaborate choker of red and gold. He kissed her cheek back as he fastened it around her neck, over the top of her mother's heirloom. "It's not a betrothal necklace, but it looks good on you."

It would also help her blend in if they wound up having to actually infiltrate the Fire Nation, but that was something to worry about later.

Especially as Sokka chose that moment to show up and zeroed in on the fact that Katara was not wearing her mother's necklace, and Hahn had just finished putting a new one on her. Luckily, Sokka had yet to master sneak-attacks, and it was easy to dodge the other boy's initial lunge as Katara laughed and the little Earthbender cheered them on. When the shout of "What do you think Dad will say?" made him freeze long enough to be tackled, Hahn resisted the urge to swear.

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_A/N: I'm not begging for reviews, but it is good to know how people think I'm doing, even if it is only to say that you think I'm horrible at characterisation and should never write again._

_Constructive Criticism is appreciated, but Flames are not._

_Thanks, Nat_


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the associated characters._

_Summary: See Previous Chapters._

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Instead of staying put until he was fully healed like a sensible person, the Avatar had run off as soon as everyone's back was turned, which meant that Katara and the others had to run after him to make sure he didn't get himself killed. The only good side was that Katara's distress over Aang running away led to a proper reconciliation with her father.

Far too soon, Katara, Sokka and Toph were away on the bison, looking for an Avatar who needed to stop throwing temper tantrums whenever something went wrong, and start thinking things through, and Hahn was back to using letters to communicate with his new girlfriend, as Katara had informed him when they kissed goodbye, ignoring a fuming Sokka. Katara had sent a letter with a hired messenger hawk when they found the Avatar, along with the main places they would be stopping at next, and a private message for Hahn.

Reading the latest update on the Avatar and his companions, Hahn was of the opinion that Katara and Sokka masquerading as the Avatar's parents was far more appropriate than anyone was going to admit out loud, and replied as such, which (according to Katara's next letter) reportedly got a huff from the Avatar and laughter from Toph and Katara. Sokka was unavailable, due to a brief stop for him to train with a sword-master, but returned to the group just in time to add an angry post-script, demanding to know why Hahn was writing to his sister before Katara wrestled the letter away from him and sent it back to the fleet.

Even Hakoda had found that amusing, though he had put Hahn through another conversation about how close he and Katara were. In hindsight, telling Hakoda that he was in love with the man's only daughter and had kissed her a few times was perhaps a bit too honest, but the Southern Chief would have found out anyway, and had only glared and reminded him that Katara was still only fifteen.

Hahn cheered up when he heard what the plan was for the rest of them, however. Sailing around and making trouble behind the lines was an idea that Hahn could certainly get with, but gathering an army to invade the Fire nation was even better. Apparently, they were also picking up help from various people that Katara, Sokka and the Avatar had encountered while travelling.

* * *

Hahn was impressed by the small army of Earthbenders, the majority from disbanded Earth Kingdom Armies, but about a quarter of who had apparently been rescued from a Fire Nation Prison Ship thanks largely to Katara. He quickly learned to stay well away from wherever the Mechanic happened to be, unless he wanted to be blown up or covered in weird substances. Hahn had no idea where Teo had come up with the idea of combustible soy sauce, and he didn't want to know.

Hahn knew that it was unfair of him to be angry at the Mechanist for inventing things for the Fire Nation, especially since he was only trying to protect his son and people, but if he was so smart, why didn't he just make some small, largely useless stuff and give that to the Fire Nation, and save the big inventions for fending them off if the soldiers tried to attack the Northern Air Temple?

Hahn was also firmly on Bato's side in regards to the, ah… Swampbenders. OK, their style of life was unique and adaptable, and their bending style was very effective, especially for someone without any formal training, and Hue's "Swamp Monster" guise did appeal to his inner little boy, but he would still take the chilly poles any day, if it meant keeping his tunic and anorak, instead of their clothing. Really, was it _that_ hard to put on a pair of pants? Nearly every single person in the fleet had offered up one of their spare pairs, so it wasn't like there was a shortage of sizes to choose from!

There was one downside, however, in that everyone his age or younger seemed to have a crush on Katara. Hahn couldn't blame them, and would be the first to admit that there was plenty about the Southern Tribe girl to like, but he had never been very graceful about competition, especially when he and Katara had just started on a potential relationship!

Was this some kind of Karma for taunting Sokka about Princess Yue? Wasn't being humiliated and dumped in the freezing ocean during the Siege of the North enough of a lesson for that?

Sometimes, life really sucked.

* * *

Immersed in her element, feeling the water swirl around her, Katara tried to relax and hold back the tears.

She was a woman of the Tribes, and while the Southern Tribe was more progressive in gender equality, she had a duty to take care of her family. Like the Moon and Ocean Spirits they worshiped, the Water Tribes were like Yin and Yang. Women were passive and calm, holding their Family and Tribe together, and taking care of the spiritual side of things. That was why Water Sages were always women. Men took care of the physical side of things; hunting and providing for their families, aggressive and proactive in protecting the Tribe.

Sokka and Aang wouldn't last a week if Katara wasn't there to look after them, and as much as she liked to pretend otherwise, Toph wasn't totally self-sufficient, even if it was only making a fire or cooking a hot meal. How could she think having a Wanted Poster of her specifically was a good thing? Was it so bad that she missed her home and wanted to try and re-create it as much as possible, even if only through taking care of the others? Why was no-one willing to agree with her, or show even a bit of support, or listen when she spoke?

The scams, morally wrong in the first place, were out of control, and drawing too much attention! Wanted posters? A bounty on Toph, calling her "The Runaway"? Aang had given her an Avatar promise to stop the scams if they went too far, then promptly gone and pulled another one! She would have told him how disappointed she was, if she didn't know that Toph would just use it as further ammunition for how she acted like her Mom.

The scams were dangerous, for all of them, why was she the only one who realized that? Why did pointing that out make her 'bossy' and 'not fun'?

She had broken the rules and Sokka's schedule when she wanted to help the river-village and took on the guise of the Painted Lady, and everyone had been upset and called her irresponsible, even if they did agree to help! Toph breaks the rules with scams that put them all at risk, and she was fun and awesome and there was nothing wrong! It was driving her crazy!

"_While Katara cleans up, let's go have some fun!"_

_"You need to stop these scams!"  
_"_Why? Because it's fun, and you hate fun?"_

Why was that always the way of it? Let Katara clean up and make sure no one's tent was going to fall down around their ears, while everyone else went off to play or do their own thing, as if having Katara come along would make things unenjoyable. As if her suggestions of moderation or caution meant that she wouldn't know fun if it Waterbended her in the face? If Katara wanted to deal with that attitude her whole life, she would have stayed at the North Pole, married someone like Sangok and be having lots of nice Waterbending babies.

Katara missed Hahn, who treated her as the strong, powerful woman that she was, who listened to and respected her for herself. Katara wished he was there, to back her up when she tried to rein the others in, to let someone else be the responsible not-quite-adult for once. When he was there, he gave her confidence when she was feeling doubtful, and made her feel like she could do anything.

She was Katara, daughter of Chief Hakoda and Kya. She was the only Master Waterbender in the Southern Tribe, and the girl who broke the gender barrier in the Northern Tribe! She was the first woman in both tribes to be both Healer and Warrior, though hopefully not the last. She was a hero in her own right, not the prissy little girl that her 'friends' always seemed to treat her as!

Sokka said that he saw her as a mother, yet he never allowed her the authority or respect to go with it. Why was she always the one who had to fix things, who had to be the referee, the peacekeeper, the mother? What if she didn't want to be the responsible one with the burden of final decisions sometimes? It would serve them right if she stopped being the responsible one for a few days and left them to flounder on their own!

Toph wasn't the only one who could come up with scams and be fun and irresponsible! Katara was good at planning and efficiency, even if Sokka was the inventor with the battle plans. She could be fun, and she would come up with a scam to top everything the others had done so far!

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_A/N: Right, next chapter up. It's shorter than the previous one, but I have most of the next chapter written, so it shouldn't be too bad._

_Katara might seem a bit OOC at the end, but I thought that Katara suggesting a scam in the first place was OOC. Yes, she acted out during the Painted Lady episode, but that was to help a village that was clearly suffering, not to risk life and freedom just to get more money when they already had more than enough._

_As always, you are free to disagree, and I would love to hear your arguments on the matter._

_Thanks, Nat_


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the associated characters._

_Summary: See Previous Chapters_

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

There were times that it really sucked like an undertow, crushing on a pretty girl. Teo wasn't much of a threat, even though he watched Katara with clear infatuation. Katara was treating Aang clearly like a little brother or even a son, but the tall, soft-spoken Earthbender that couldn't seem to go within sight of the female populace without having at least three admirers in as many seconds had been the recipient of an enthusiastic hug and a delighted cry of "Haru! It's so good to see you!"

Hahn could more than understand the others liking Katara, but right then, he felt the overwhelming urge to shove the pretty-boy off the pier.

Fortunately, Haru was dragged off to help the other Earthbenders, and Hahn got the chance to talk to Katara alone before they had to go to listen to the Invasion Plan.

Hahn was still a bit too proud to actually tell Sokka that he was impressed by the other boy's tactical mind and plans, even if his presentation skills were on par with those of a sea-slug. So, he told Katara instead, using it as an excuse to talk to her (and block Haru from delivering another artless compliment) and asked her to pass on the message. Katara had agreed, with the tolerant half-smile that seemed universal to woman everywhere, when they thought someone was being an idiot, but that it was adorable, in a toddler-like fashion.

He probably could have been a bit more tactful when he asked if bringing along a blind twelve-year-old girl had been the best idea, but Hahn still thought that punting him into the harbour with her admittedly impressive Earthbending was a bit much. Really, if you didn't know that she was the Avatar's Earthbending master, it was only common sense. The only reason that Hahn had been the sole person to ask was because he had been the first, and the other concerned people, numbering about two thirds of the Invasion Force, had got the picture after Toph's reaction.

Katara had dried him off with her own Waterbending and apologised on the other girl's behalf, saying that Toph was really a good person, if a bit rough around the edges.

Hahn's feathers were still a bit ruffled, but smoothed down when Katara smiled at him after he complained that World's Greatest Earthbender or not, Toph could use some manners and a lesson in basic personal cleanliness. Apparently, Katara had been trying her best to do just that, with limited degrees of success.

The Siege of the North had been Hahn's first real experience in Battle, and that had been a stealth mission, with the Fire Nation in an unfamiliar environment that they were ill-suited to. Likewise the fight to capture the Fire Navy ship after the Fall of Ba Sing Se, as that had taken place on the open water against an enemy who was used to routine patrols, rather than Sneak Attackers who fought back, plus one very powerful and very angry Waterbender.

And had he mentioned that the men he was fighting beside were also the men whose Baby Sister and Little Girl Hahn was trying to date? Or that watching Hakoda fight made Hahn's former boasting about how great a warrior he was feel _really stupid_, in hindsight? Sokka was a lot better than the last time they had fought, too.

He liked to think that he was at least useful when he joined Hakoda in storming one of the Lookout Towers, since he did take down the soldier who had been lining up a shot at the Southern Chief, resulting in a near-miss, rather than what would have been a disabling and painful wound, if the soldier had given himself away in time for Hakoda to dodge.

Using one of the Towers to hit the Fire Nation soldiers swarming to stop the invasion sowed confusion among the enemy, while Sokka ran to join Aang and Toph in finding the Fire Lord, until one enterprising unit took down the tower itself, with the three Water Tribespeople just escaping the blast.

Now Hahn was fighting back to back with Katara and Hakoda, which was probably a good thing, as the Chief's intimidating presence was enough to stop him from being distracted by how attractive Katara looked while Waterbending. As many of the younger Northern Water Tribe warriors had asked (after meeting and losing to Katara), why had the Northern Tribe thought it was a good idea to ban women from fighting, again?

Seriously, the sinuous way her body moved, the water whips and icicles moving around her in a kind of lethal dance, coupled with the determined look on her face… Hakoda was going to have his hands full once the war was over, and it was probably a good thing that the Southern Water Tribe had given up on the idea of arranged marriages, or Hahn would be sunk.

Formidable fighting force or not, Hahn bit back a particularly vile curse when the eclipse ended and a group of Firebending soldiers ran toward them, stopping out of spear-range but within Firebending distance. Even Katara, powerful as she was, would not be able to match them alone, and Sangok was elsewhere.

Hahn placed himself in front of Katara, with the ready excuse that she was their best shot, even if it was mostly because he wanted to protect her, but it turned out to be un-necessary. Looking as if they were struggling against some unseen force, the Fire Nation soldiers turned away from them, facing each other.

Most of them were shouting in confusion, but one was a little more in control of his mind, as he shouted for the approaching non-benders, who had come as back-up. "Get the Water-whore! She's the one doing this!"

There were only a few non-bending soldiers, few enough for Hahn and Hakoda to take on alone. Finishing off the last of them, Hahn looked around to see the Firebenders fighting each other, all of them panicking. Now more than a little confused himself, he glanced at Katara, who's brow was furrowed in concentration, her fingers hooked into claws as she moved in an unfamiliar Waterbending stance, her face set in a hard, merciless mask. "I won't let you hurt my family!"

It was difficult to tell in the radiant sunlight, but it almost seemed as though she were surrounded by a soft glow of moonlight, which, given that the full moon still shared the sky with the sun, was faintly possible. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Hahn hoped that Yue didn't disapprove of the new path he had chosen.

The last of the Firebenders fell, and Katara staggered, her look of determination turning to one of devastation. Hahn's congratulation died on his lips and he settled for catching her arm, supporting her before she fell. "Are you all right?"

Katara shook her head, taking a deep breath. "No, I hate being forced to use blood-bending. Please don't tell Aang, he hates my being able to control people like that even more than I do."

As soon as he got a chance, Hahn was going to talk to a Waterbending Healer, to see if there were any positive, non-violent reasons to use that ability. He hated to see Katara so upset. "Blood-bending?"

A second group of Firebenders had arrived in time to see the fate of their fellows, and quickly turned around, all suddenly blind to the three Water Tribe warriors. Apparently, wilful memory loss when facing their CO was a better option than taking on a Waterbender who could manipulate their very bodies.

This left them a moment to catch their breath, and the two men looked at the girl, who seemed suddenly fragile, yet somehow still as indestructible as an iceberg.

Katara shuddered, a look of remembered pain crossing her face. "There is water in everything, even in human bodies. I can bend sweat, for example, and if you talk to Yagoda, she'll tell you that the human body is over seventy per cent water. I'll explain it all later."

That was fair, and they really should get going. The two men nodded in agreement and ran to where a group of Earthbenders had been fighting.

Something had gone very wrong, and the Invasion was not going as planned. Somehow, the Fire Nation had found out (though perhaps it did make sense that if the Firebenders could pinpoint Sozin's Comet to the day, they would certainly keep track of something that could render them powerless), and had been prepared.

Aside from the soldiers, the city was empty. The Fire Lord was nowhere to be found, and the Fire Princess Azula was not to be taken lightly, with or without her bending. She, along with several elite Earthbenders, had managed to delay Aang until the eclipse passed, at which point a fleet of massive air balloons had shown up and bombed the ships, cutting off their avenue of escape.

There was no way for all of them to escape, and that fact was made no easier by Hakoda's reassurance that they had struck a blow and tasted victory, so it wasn't all for nothing.

The younger members climbed onto Appa, hoping to escape while they could. Hahn turned to find Sangok, but the other boy shook his head. "I'm staying. They'll expect to find at least one Waterbender, and most of the ones Katara or I fought had more important things to worry about than how we were shaped. Finding me will make finding Katara, and therefore the rest of you, a lower priority."

For all the times Hahn had mentally or verbally called Sangok an idiot, or mocked him as being even worse with weapons than he was with Water Bending, he had never been more proud to call the other youth his friend. He gripped his arm in a warrior's clasp. "May Yue and La guide and protect you, Sangok."

Sangok attempted to grin. "You know me, I'm worse than a limpet when it comes to holding tight. Good luck, Hahn. Help Sokka take care of the others."

Hahn nodded, before he was propelled off his feet and into Appa's saddle. Katara hugged her father tightly, and then turned to Sangok. "Master Pakku was wrong. You're brave and a great fighter and I'm proud to have learned beside you."

Sangok grinned. "You're probably the only one who could have got away with saying that, since Master Pakku actually likes you. Thanks, Katara."

Katara hugged him, too, and then climbed onto the bison with the ease of long practice, taking a stance to ward off any incoming fireballs. Sokka and Hahn took similar positions on the rear and opposite side of the saddle, and they took off, the beach and the remaining warriors growing smaller and further away.

When they finally got out of range, Aang steering them away to who knew wear, Hahn sat down and wrapped an arm around Katara, though who was comforting whom he didn't quite know.

atla

atla

atla

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A/N: Right, the next chapter is up, and since it's an even-numbered one (and only every second chapter seems to have even one person commenting), hopefully people will be willing to take five seconds to drop me a review on what I'm doing wrong.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed it, and sorry the chapter is so short. Also, I have a question for the readers: Should I just go until the end of the series, or further? If so, how far?

Thanks, Nat


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the associated characters._

_Summary: See Previous Chapters_

* * *

**CHAPTER NINE**

They hadn't been at the Western Air Temple for more than a day, and Hahn already felt like swearing.

He couldn't blame the Sky Bison for getting tired carrying all of them, but really, he now had more blisters than he cared to think about, and wondered if it was worth asking Katara to help heal them.

There was a lack of mountains in this part of the Fire Nation, so making the Air Temple hang upside down in a gorge, virtually inaccessible to anyone not an Airbender, was a good way to discourage strangers, but it also made it bloody hard for visitors to navigate! Hahn kept having to double-check that he was, in fact, walking on the floor, except that the floor was actually the upside down ceiling!

Oh, and the Avatar was dead-set on avoiding the subject of how the invasion had failed, and was evading attempts to discuss what to do next by showing the others the Room of A Thousand Echoes, or taking Teo gliding, or anything that meant he had an excuse not to hear Katara, Toph or Sokka trying to plan what to do next.

Hahn wasn't sure what Zuko had done that make Katara openly threaten his life, and make him take the threat so seriously, but he admitted that if he had been on the receiving end of that glare and softly-spoken promise, he – and most others - probably would have fallen to his knees and begged for mercy.

Or for Katara to please make it quick.

Hahn was actually fairly impressed that Zuko had managed to simply nod and not cower even a little bit.

He was not about to admit it, especially when Katara was around, but he was starting to respect the Prince. Hahn knew how hard it was to admit that you were wrong and had been an idiot, though admittedly Zuko's mistakes had been far more serious than his own, and the Fire Prince _was_ trying to make amends.

* * *

Hahn liked Hakoda, and the battle during the comet would go a lot better if they had more people able to fight. Unfortunately, they were already casting off by the time he reached them sneaking out in Zuko's war balloon.

The note that Zuko and Sokka left for the others, however, wouldn't fool a Swamp Bender, much less Katara or Toph. Fish was not meat, and they didn't have any poles or nets with them, so the note that Hahn had slipped into Katara's sleeping bag as a back-up, when he had confronted Sokka about sneaking away in the middle of the night and how much it would worry everyone, saying that they were scouting the area, but didn't want to worry any of the younger kids, probably did a lot more to reassure her than anything else.

He did approve of the tough training regimen that Zuko left for Aang, though.

Even if Zuko didn't trust Aang to Firebend by himself, the basic exercises would keep him busy and not let him slack off. The Avatar's training in the North Pole would have gone a lot faster if he focused and trained as hard as Katara had, instead of using it to play games.

Plus, more time spent practising Firebending meant less time to try and pursue Katara, and the absence of Sokka meant that Hahn managed to get enough time alone with Katara to steal their first real kiss.

Even that, however, didn't totally ease the worry. Zuko was their only chance at Aang learning how to Firebend, and the last thing they needed was for him to get killed while breaking into the most heavily fortified prison in the world.

Hahn wasn't a bender of any kind, but he did manage to help by waylaying the Avatar when he tried to slack off, going so far as to hide Aang's glider and refuse to give it back until after he had finished the day's training. When she figured out why, Katara joined in his efforts by sparring, with the added restriction that Aang had to use Firebending to attack, and Earth to defend himself, to Toph's loud approval. Apparently, Aang was not that great at Earthbending, either.

* * *

It wasn't the first time Hahn really felt like punching the Avatar, or the first time he managed to barely restrain himself, but the self-righteous attitude was really getting on his nerves.

The 'forgive everyone and be happy' way of doing things might work for the Air Nomads, who could just fly away from their problems, but in the Water Tribes, blood was paid for in blood, life for life. Water was give and take, push and pull, cost and retribution. That was the way of things, and you would think that the Avatar would respect that not everyone was a pacifist. Or would have caught on when the Ocean Spirit wiped out the Fire Nation Armada for killing the Moon Spirit.

Hahn had learned from the other Southern Warriors that the man who had led the raids on the Southern Tribe remained alive because they didn't have the time to search the Fire Nation (or the first clue of where to start) while the war still raged, but when the war was over, the Southern Water Tribe Warriors had every plan to find him and make him pay for the lives he had stolen.

* * *

Katara was extremely glad Hahn was there with them. Sokka was still feeling down after the failed invasion, though he had perked up after rescuing their dad from the Boiling Rock, and he often performed best when he was competing against someone, or felt that he had something to prove. Katara normally wouldn't admit it, but there had been times that she had deliberately provoked her brother in order to motivate him.

Besides, it was nice to have someone who agreed with her initial reluctance to trust Zuko, and understood her need for Revenge on her mother's killer. Sokka loved her mother, Katara knew, no matter what she said when she lashed out. She apologized later, and had snapped at him because he was her brother and would never hate her, and she did feel bad about it. But Sokka was busy focussing on the big picture of fighting Ozai , and was not the one to have seen their mother's charred corpse before their father pulled her away. Katara _needed_ to face the man responsible, to confront the face that still haunted her nightmares, to make her peace with it.

Toph's non-existent relationship with her parents, and the fact that they were alive and safe, didn't let her understand the desire for vengeance. Aang insisted that violence in any form was wrong, and that revenge, even for family, the very essence of the Water Tribes, should be ignored. Katara adored the Airbender as a younger brother, but she wasn't sure that she would not have actually punched him had Hahn not dragged him away, saying that he would try to explain.

Hahn understood that she needed to find the leader of the raiders, even if his not-wonderful gift at stealth meant that he couldn't come with them.

* * *

When Katara and Zuko returned, she had been quiet and gone to sit on the ruined docks, wanting to be by herself to work through her actions.

She regretted using Bloodbending on the Fire Nation Soldier, even if it certainly got answers a lot quicker than usual. From the whimpering about how he would tell them everything, if she would only leave him control of his bending when she left, it seemed that the story of her actions on the Day of the Black Sun had made its rounds among the rank and file, probably blown greatly out of proportion. Katara had manipulated the movements of the Firebending soldiers so that they aimed for their comrades rather than her father and Hahn, but it seemed that half of the Fire Nation was now convinced that the women waterbenders could turn a bender's power against him, which was why there were so few of them.

Given that Katara was the _last_ of the Southern Waterbenders, she only wished that were the true reason.

She did not regret that she had gone after Yon Rah in the first place. Her anger, brought on by the anniversary of her mother's death and the sudden separation from her father, _again_, was causing problems, problems that they could not afford, and the few days gave Sokka and Suki time to plan their next move, and Aang and Toph a chance to work on Aang's Earthbending without interruption. Katara had needed to face Yon Rah before she could move past it.

She was drawn out of her thoughts when Aang appeared, though she could tell he was disappointed when she clarified that she had not, in fact, forgiven Yon Rah, merely stopped letting him fuel her hatred. Zuko's willingness to help her, despite the disapproval of the others, and his support through the journey, had let her work through her anger at him, also, and she felt almost as relieved as Zuko looked when she told the Fire Prince that she was ready to forgive him.

She walked away, leaving Aang and Zuko to talk, and found Hahn waiting for her, just far enough away to give her privacy.

It was nice not to have to be strong and in control of herself, nice to have someone willing to take on the burden of caring for her, rather than the other way around, and Katara sank into his welcoming arms, sharing the details that she would never tell Aang, such as the Bloodbending, and how she had come within centimeters and seconds of killing Yon Rah, details that Zuko had edited out when explaining to the others.

As before, Hahn understood.

He didn't have the personal experience of a murdered parent, though his older brother had been one of those killed when the Fire Nation attacked the North Pole, but he understood the choice not to stain her hands with the blood of an old man, why she had let his defeat and humiliation be enough. For a Nation so focused on Victory, the Fire Nation took defeat a lot harder than the other three. Yon Rah would have to live with the knowledge that he owed his life to the very Waterbender he had once been sent to kill.

Hahn knew that the acknowledgement of Yon Rah's crime, the admittance of what he had done, and the demonstration that he was a coward unworthy of leadership, was acceptable, in place of death. Scraping out a miserable existence on this island, abandoned by those he once served and led, except for a mother who hated him, wasn't quite the same as exile from the Tribe, but it was close enough.

Katara had faced her fear, and overcome it and had someone to return to.

_Atla_

_Atla_

_Atla_

_Atla_

* * *

_A/N: Yes, I know it has taken forever to put this up, and I apologize. I spent weeks with the chapter half-written, then finally managed to pull it together. I hope you all enjoy._

_As you can see, I have issues with the Southern Raiders. I think part of Katara's anger stems from the fact that she has been reunited with her father for a matter of days, and the Fire Nation is splitting them up again. We don't know the exact date of Kya's death, but Katara's focus on it in this episode makes me think that it was around that time. I also think that the reason she shouted at Sokka is because she worries about what the others think of her, but she knows that her brother will love her no matter what. I think that they had an off-screen talk about it later and sorted everything out._

_As always, you are free to disagree with anything I say, and I'd love to hear your arguments._

_Thanks, Nat._


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the associated characters._

_Summary: See Previous Chapters._

* * *

**CHAPTER TEN**

Hahn decided early on that the only way to deal with the waste of time and parchment that was '_The Boy In The Iceberg'_ was to treat it as a huge joke and make snide comments about the actors and writer while snuggling with Katara in the back row.

Luckily, Sokka was too busy doing the same with Suki in the row in front of them to kick up a fuss about it.

But really, whoever had talked to the writer about Katara's speeches didn't have the first clue, and the writer and actress had even less. Katara was much better and more inspirational at giving speeches, and covered way more than hope, even if that was her main theme. The first speech Hahn had heard from her, when he was recovering from his dunking in the ocean, had taken him through shame at his own arrogance, to guilt on behalf of the entire tribe for not helping their family in the south, to determination to fix these things, and ended on hope that maybe one day Katara would see him as more than a useless jerk with an over-inflated opinion of himself.

And the 'Tearbending' was just stupid. Certainly a lot of what Katara and the Gaang had been through would have driven anyone to tears, but Katara had never just sat down and cried when she could have stood up and done something about the situation.

She was far stronger than that.

And by Yue and La, he did not feel threatened when the writers tried to pair Katara up with Zuko on stage! Both of them looked way too disturbed at the notion for it to be any more substantial than anything else in this travesty of a play.

* * *

Katara thought that Aang would have more sense than to take the play with any amount of seriousness, but at least it gave her the chance to clear up the issue of Aang's crush.

She was Aang's teacher and friend, and any love for him took the form of the same semi-motherly concern with which she treated Sokka. It might have been the ONLY thing that the actress playing her got right, but she was correct in saying that Aang was like a little brother to her. Romance would never come into the picture.

"It's true, isn't it? I kissed you at the invasion, and I thought we were going to be together, but you really do see me as a little brother."

Katara wished he had chosen another time to realize this, but she would have to face the problem sooner or later. She loved Hahn, not Aang, and that was all there was to it. "Yes. I don't know how long it'll be before I marry, or who, but I could never accept a necklace from you, even if you were free to give one. I care about you, Aang, but not like that."

Before the Avatar could say anything else, she turned and hurried back inside.

* * *

Honestly, Hahn approved of Sokka and Zuko's idea of training.

Master Pakku and Hahn's weapons instructor, who taught the non-benders, thought that a good 'final test' was to ambush their students or put them in a situation that mirrored a real battle, to see how they reacted.

It was a good thing that neither of those masters was present, because both of them would have failed Aang in a second. Running away wouldn't help against the Fire Lord, just as it hadn't helped one hundred years ago. Hesitating at a crucial moment, especially in the middle of a sneak attack, would see Aang 'shot full of lightning', as Sokka put it, and Katara no longer had any spirit water to bring him back.

Hahn just didn't know how many times or ways they had to say it before the Avatar got those facts through his thick skull!

The young Airbender sulked through the rest of the afternoon, even sitting away from them during dinner in the courtyard, though Katara insisted that it was just nerves. Not even Katara's attempt to lighten the atmosphere worked, though it was the first time Aang spoke to them all afternoon.

Even if he was insisting that the Fire Lord was still a human being, and therefore not to be killed.

Sokka and Hahn exchanged frustrated looks as Sokka tried to say that the universe would probably forgive Aang, if he killed Ozai in the name of balance. Zuko tried for a sarcastic remark about showing Ozai his baby pictures to make him see the light, which backfired when Aang took him seriously. Even Katara's patience was running dry, but Aang even snapped at her gentle attempts to sooth things. "Well, when you come up with a way for me to defeat Ozai without taking his life, I'd love to hear it!"

Hahn stood up, finally sick of the Avatar's attitude. "Don't yell at her! _Why_ did you have to pick _now _to suddenly become squeamish?"

Aang glared at him, promptly switching targets. "What's that supposed to mean? Taking a life goes against everything the Monks ever taught me!"

Hahn glared right back. "When you merged with the Ocean Spirit it helped you wipe out an entire armada of ships. What did you _think _happened to all the Fire Nation soldiers on those ships? Did you think that they somehow managed to avoid all of the ocean predators while swimming for several days to get out of the freezing polar waters?"

That brought the young Airbender up short, giving Katara another chance to step in. "Aang, I know that it's hard for you to go against the Air Nomad teachings, but you aren't _just_ an Air Nomad. Like it or not, you're the Avatar, and you have to do what's right for the world, not just your personal beliefs."

Zuko joined in again. "If you don't defeat the Fire Lord, he'll go on to burn the entire Earth Kingdom, and _millions_ of people will die. You can take one life to save millions, or you can refuse to fight him, and the Genocide of the Air Nomads will be repeated, and Ozai will be able to turn _all_ of his resources to wiping out the Water Tribes."

Maybe overwhelming Aang with the blunt facts would make him see sense? That was the theory, at least, when Sokka stood up. "It's not like the Air Nomads didn't kill in self-defence, either. I don't think that all of those Fire Nation skeletons around Gyatso all spontaneously dropped dead of their own accord.

The look Aang sent him could only be described as 'betrayed' as Sokka punched a gaping hole in his argument. He tried another tactic. "If you're all so keen to see the Fire Lord dead, then why doesn't one of you do it?"

Suki stood firm with her boyfriend. "Because the Fire Nation would see it as a Water Tribe or Earth Kingdom assassination, and that would start the war all over again. Zuko can't do it without being accused of Patricide and Regicide, and that will only end with a civil war."

Katara stepped forward again, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'd do this for you if I could, Aang. If I thought it would help, I'd stop Ozai's heart in a second. But I can't. _You_, the Avatar, are the only one who can stop this war."

* * *

Hahn and Zuko started taking the dishes back to the kitchens as Katara went to leave Aang's barely-touched food outside his locked door. Finally, Zuko broke the silence. "Thanks for speaking up back there. If I tried to say all that myself, Aang might have just gone back to seeing me as the Bad Guy, and the Fire Nation is going to have enough problems without the Avatar hating the Heir to the Throne."

Hahn nodded, accepting the thanks. "You'll have the support of the Tribes. Sokka is the son of the Southern Tribe's Chief, and Katara is the last of the Southern Waterbenders. I was supposed to marry Yue because Chief Arnook wanted me as his Heir, and that was the best way to achieve it. Suki will bring the support of Kyoshi Island, and from what little I know, the Bei Fong name carries a lot of weight in the Earth Kingdom."

Zuko returned a half-smile, as though a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Aang wasn't the only one who would need support to fulfil his destiny.

.

.

.

_._

* * *

_A/N: Yeah, so this chapter took way longer to finish than I had planned, but I will get this finished!_

_Other, long-term, stories are taking up much of my writing time, as is a new job and an original novel. In the meantime, Constructive Criticism is very much appreciated._

_Thanks_

_Nat_


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